The US government announced on Tuesday that it had closed the investigation into E. coli outbreak attached to McDonald’s Quarter Pounder hamburgers after it was determined that there was no longer a safety risk.
The outbreak, which was first published on October 22sickened at least 104 people in 14 states, including 34 who were hospitalized, according to the US Food and Drug Administration. One person in Colorado died and four people developed a potentially life-threatening complication of kidney disease.
The FDA, which conducted an investigation along with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and state health departments, linked the outbreak to yellow onions distributed by a California company Taylor Farms and is served raw on Quarter Pounders at McDonald’s restaurants in Colorado, Kansas, Wyoming and other states.
No new cases have been reported since Oct. 21, when McDonald’s pulled the Quarter Pounder from its menu in the affected states, the CDC said Tuesday. Taylor Farms initiated a voluntary yellow onion recall on October 22nd.
Federal and state health officials in Colorado did not find the E. coli strain that caused the illnesses in the onions they tested or in environmental samples. But they concluded that the evidence showed that the withdrawn yellow onion was the likely source of the outbreak.
“McDonald’s is no longer serving the recalled onions and there do not appear to be any further food safety concerns related to this outbreak,” the FDA said in a statement Tuesday.
McDonald’s briefly pulled Quarter Pounders from 3,000 stores in the U.S. as a result of the outbreak, then narrowed it down to 900 stores after testing showed that onions — not hamburger patties — were the likely source of the E. coli. The company found an alternative supplier and resumed selling Quarter Pounders with sliced onions in all U.S. stores last month.
But the outbreak hurt demand. In mid-November, McDonald’s said it planned to spend 100 million dollars bring customers back to stores, including $65 million that will go directly to the hardest-hit franchisees.
Chicago-based McDonald’s declined to say Tuesday whether its sales had returned to normal levels in the affected regions. But he thanked US regulators for their swift action and said he remained confident in his rigorous food safety standards.
McDonald’s last a major food safety problem it happened in 2018, when more than 500 people contracted intestinal disease after eating his salads.
McDonald’s also declined to comment on Tuesday about legal action against the company as a result of the E. coli outbreak.
Nicole and Richard West of Townsend, Montana, are suing McDonald’s after their 11-month-old daughter, Logan, was hospitalized in October with E. coli poisoning. The child ate several bites of the father’s Quarter Pounder burger with onions during a family outing on October 2.
A few days later she fell ill with severe vomiting and diarrhea. Her mother rushed her to the hospital, where she was found to be infected with E. coli O157:H7, which can cause life-threatening disease, especially in young children.
Richard West also fell ill but did not seek medical attention because he was at home taking care of the family’s other children. He lost more than two weeks of work as a truck driver due to the outbreak, and the family is facing a series of medical expenses.
Nicole West said Tuesday that Logan’s health has improved, but the outbreak has shaken the family’s trust in the fast-food giant.
“When kids want to go out to eat, they want to go to McDonald’s. They want to get a Happy Meal,” West said. “But we just don’t believe anymore.”
